Tuesday, July 9 and we were off to Winnemucca, NV. We had planned on taking Highway 50 across to Carson City.
Highway 50 was labeled the "loneliest road in America" by Life Magazine in 1986. They said there were no point of interest or interesting stops along the way. This however is not the case. It is one of the states most scenic and historic corridors. Highway 50 traces the route of the Pony Express and Overland Stagecoach trails.
John, however, decided to take I-80 out of Salt Lake City due to weather in the area.
I-80 skirts along the Great Salt Lake toward the Nevada border.
The Great Salt Lake is both the largest body of
water between the Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean and the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere. The Great Salt Lake is the major remnant of Lake Bonneville, a freshwater lake of the Pleistocene era (75,000-7,250 B.C.) that occupies much of western Utah. No streams empty from the lake, and its high salinity is caused by the accumulation of minerals with no removal and the accompanying water evaporation.
Antelope Island, with an area of 42 square miles is the largest island of 10 islands located with the Great Salt Lake. The island lies in the southeastern portion of the lake, near Salt Lake City and becomes a peninsula when the lake is at extremely low levels.The first known non-natives to visit the island were John C. Freemont and Kit Carson during exploration of the Great Salt Lake in 1845. It is said they shot a pronghorn antelope on the island and in gratitude for the meat they named it Antelope Island.
As we continue along I-80 we come to the Bonneville Salt Flats, desert area in Tooele county, in northwestern Utah. It is 14 miles long and 7 miles wide. The smooth salt surface of the Flats is ideal for auto racing, and several world land speed records have been set here. The Flats are part of the Great Salt Lake Desert, NW Utah, the former bed of Lake Bonneville, whose area once covered 19,500 square miles. The area was named for U.S. explorer Benjamin de Bonneville.
Entertainment filmed at the salt flats include: Independence Day and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Due to extraction of salt from the area, the salt flats have begun to disappear. Once around 90,000
acres in size, they are now only 30,000 acres. The
salt layer is thought to be shrinking due to the use of the salt in making of potash, a mineral ingredient used in fertilizer.It has been estimated that over 55 million short tons of salt have been taken from the salt flats since mining began in 1963. Geologists estimate that 18 inches of salt crust have been removed from the flats, and that the reduction of salt happens at a pace of one percent per year. In some areas, the salt is now a mere 1/2 inch thick.
As we continue our drive across Utah into Nevada we began to think about all the pioneers that crossed this area in covered wagons. There were signs along the road about the Carson Trail and California Trails that we were following. These folks really had a sense of adventure!!
For weeks these emigrants crossed vast grassland which was hot by day and cold at night. Often violent thunderstorms swept down on the hapless travelers. From the Great Salt Lake to the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, emigrants traversed the Great Basin. Most had seen nothing like this, for nothing like this exists east of the Rocky Mountains. They had to cross the Mile Desert to reach the next reliable water in either the Carson River or the Truckee River. Survivors were then faced with the final obstacle before reaching California, the towering Sierra Nevada mountains. It is a trip that I am not sure that I would have liked to make in a wagon!!!
There were over 250,000 pioneer emigrants on their trip across the frontier to the promised lands of California and Oregon in the 1840's and 1850's. This was the largest mass migration in the history of America!
That is all for this installment.
Love to all and hope that you are having a wonderful summer. More from the road later.
Candy and Johnny
